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Kirby Smart sends message to Dan Lanning after blowout win

On3 imageby: Andrew Graham09/08/22AndrewEdGraham
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Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Kirby Smart and his “we’ve got better players” comment of course got a lot of play after Georgia suffocated Oregon in the season opener and debut of new Ducks head coach Dan Lanning, the former UGA defensive coordinator. And while it’s certainly a novelty to hear a college football coach so plainly state something about not only his team, but his opponent, it was obvious — and Smart wasn’t taking a jab by any means.

Georgia had done enough of that on the field, anyways, and Smart lauded Lanning for what he did for Georgia as a defensive assistant and how he thinks Lanning will do great things at Oregon. He just wasn’t shy about why his team dominated the Ducks.

“Well it wasn’t about Dan Lanning,” Smart said postgame. “It really wasn’t. I saw him before the game. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. We talked about talking after the game and telling each other tendencies or ideas we had to get better. We agreed not to share with other people, because it only hurts both of us and he’s — I’ve got a lot of respect for Dan. A ton of the players out on that field, Dan Lanning recruited. And Dan Lanning did a tremendous job for the University of Georgia, while he worked for the University of Georgia. Now, he’s working for Oregon. He’s going to do a really good job at Oregon. He’s relentless. And they’ll bounce back from this. And he knows that we got better players. And he’ll never say it, but he knows we got better players and I respect how he works.” 

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Georgia, frankly, has better players than all but a select few teams — think about what the Bulldogs did to Michigan in the Orange Bowl last season. A plethora of players from the national championship squad are gone, but Georgia has reloaded with a commensurate level of talent. That much was clearly on display against Oregon.

So while Lanning’s first game is a telling loss, the man in charge of the beatdown thinks his former consigliere will do fine in due time.